Solutions: Organizing Your Storage

I do pretty good at organizing, I have labeled bins in the garage, etc. But as I get older I have trouble remembering where I put items around the house, so I created a folder in my email called "Storage Locations".

Now when I organize something and put it in say the hall closet or in the garage, I email myself where I put it. I keep those emails in that new folder. I can then "search" for that item. It's terrible getting old. LOL. Thanks!

I have a LOT of stuff stored in boxes and occasionally would spend hours looking for one small thing. So now when I pack boxes, I take a picture of the contents and make two copies, one for the outside of the box and one for a special folder I keep for that reason. It makes looking for the items so much simpler.

My husband has me save milk cartons and ice cream containers for him to use for various things. In order to keep them from cluttering his storage building, he threads them through a chain that runs from one end of the building to the other. Whenever he needs one of them, he just unhooks the chain, removes whatever he needs and hooks the chain back. He also uses hooks to hang items such as an unused birdcage and an assortment of baskets so that they do not consume valuable shelf or floor space in the building.

Before we moved out of the country we stored tons of stuff in basements and with friends. To keep track of it all, we just took digital photos of each box before we sealed it up and wrote numbers on the boxes. Then when you need your mom to send you some paperwork you thought you wouldn't need, you just scroll through the pictures and tell her right where it is. We even used some of the photos to advertise stuff online to sell on Craigslist once we were back in the states. The stuff that sold was the stuff we unpacked. Other items went straight to goodwill without us ever undoing the tape!

When you are storing items within a larger box (such as what reams of paper are housed in) for long-term storage, make the label of the contents on the computer, and then do a copy-and-paste two additional times so that you have 3 identical labels. Tape one on the top, one on the long side and one on the short side or end of the box.

This way, no matter how you stack the boxes, you will be able to see what is in it. Just make sure all the labels are complete on one page. This is a great way to use up junk mail letters that are only used on one side.

Additionally, if you will use the sharper edge of a 12 inch ruler to "rip" the excess off, you can avoid the tedious job of cutting the labels out. Put enough pressure on the ruler as you rip the paper to hold it securely during the operation. This makes very short work of trimming out the labels.

Instead of retrieving free boxes from the grocery store, retrieve the boxes from local merchants who do not sell food or beverage items. These merchants will most likely be very happy to not have to pay for their box removal. Cockroaches lay their eggs in the corrugations of 'food' boxes and that's not something you should pass on to the Goodwill or your church or a neighbor. You can also use your saved grocery bags or trash bags for transportation.